One key element in a successful partnership between relationship managers and their clients is the exchange of timely and relevant communication. Traditional relationship managers include brokers, agents, sales professionals, stock brokers, financial advisors, real estate agents, travel agents, insurance agents, professionals (such as doctors and lawyers), and any person who initiates contact with clients or customers. The goal of a successful relationship manager is to further develop, enhance and grow the relationship with their clients. However, relationship managers lack the adequate tools to perpetuate new reasons to contact the client to achieve these goals.
Specifically, one of the most significant attributes a successful relationship manager must have is the ability to stay abreast of the news and information which affects their area of specialization as well as the interests of their clients. Presently, the only tools available to the relationship manager are back-end customer relationship management (CRM) applications such as ACT and Goldmine, web browsers such as Internet Explorer, Netscape or AOL, standard web-based search engines and electronic mail utilities.
These prior art tools do not adequately assist the relationship manager. For example, the CRM tools only solve the problem of organizing client information after the relationship manager has already initiated contact with the client or potential client. The CRM tools are used to collect information about the client and possibly record notes regarding prior conversations with the client. Similarly, the web browser is limited to pointing to any domain name address the user purposely finds and manually inputs. The web-based search engines are limited to finding articles or links based on a formula determined by the search engine provider who usually ranks returned results based on the highest commercial bidder vying for a high ranking in the search engine. Electronic mail requires an address book, forcing the user to duplicate the client profile information stored in the CRM, and also requires the manual process of cutting and pasting information into the body of the message. Presently, a novel, advanced and complete solution is required to efficiently find information relevant to the interests of one or more clients, and a means to quickly provide that information that is located to the interested clients.
To illustrate further, the prior art solution requires a complex and tedious number of manual steps. First, the relationship manager (xe2x80x9cuserxe2x80x9d) must open the CRM application and browse through client information, interests and notes. The user then opens a web browser and points to a search engine such as msn.com, altavista.com or askjeevescom. Next, the user refers back to the CRM to relocate a specific client and decide on the client""s interests based on information in a single client""s profile. Then, the user manually enters terms or phrases representing that specific client""s interests in the web browser and initiates a single search on the world wide web utilizing a single search engine. After the search engine results are returned, the user must read through the listing of retrieved results, open each resulting link, read the retrieved article and determine if the article provides useful information that should be delivered to the client. The user is burdened by the additional fact that the retrieved results quite often consist of irrelevant information that does not correspond to the terms of interest that were entered manually by the user.
If the user happens to find an article of interest from the thousands of retrieved search results, the user may (i) open his or her electronic mail application such as Outlook or Netscape Messenger, (ii) open an address book to find the client or retrieve the electronic mail address from the CRM, (iii) manually copy and paste the text of the article into an electronic mail message, and (iv) send the article to an individual client. Clearly, this is a very tedious process. Imagine the scenario where a typical user, such as a broker, has hundreds of clients, whereby this process would require most of the broker""s time. The prior art solution causes the broker to fail at the primary goal of timely and relevant communication with one or more clients because: 1) the prior art solution requires an inordinate amount of the broker""s time; 2) it is nearly impossible to keep track of the specific interests of each client; and 3) the sources of information are neither relevant to the interests of the client nor conveniently available.
In contrast, the present invention uses an advanced, multi-tiered database and information delivery algorithm to retrieve and deliver targeted news items, articles and information based on the interests of a client. The present invention eliminates the need for the tedious prior art process that requires a CRM application, a web browser, a search engine and an electronic mail utility.
The present invention provides the user, such as a broker or agent, with a solution to improving and enabling communication with their clients by utilizing algorithms that cross-reference the interests of clients with any information pool and present a list of clients who are interested in the relevant information. Specifically, a successful relationship manager requires the solution provided by the present invention to provide a competitive edge in finding specific news and information that pertain to the specific interests of their clients. The solution provided by the present invention adds significant value to the broker/client relationship and results in the broker""s ability to increase communication with their existing clients and ultimately to increase their clientele.
A need exists to provide a method and system of discovering new and relevant reasons to precipitate communications with clients by querying news and information sources based on user-based and/or individual-based keyphrases.
Another need exists to provide one tool which allows the relationship manager, such as a broker or agent, to add client profile information and keyphrases based on clients"" interests into a database by means of a graphical user interface.
A further need exists to allow the relationship manager to conduct a search of one or more information service providers based on the interests of all clients, a single client and/or the interests of the relationship manager and to view the retrieved results in a viewer.
A further need exists to allow the relationship manager to view the retrieved articles that pertain to specific clients"" interests whereby each retrieved result is mapped by keyphrase, date, source and client name which have corresponding keyphrases of interest stored in the client/customer profile database.
Yet another need exists for a system and method that allows the relationship manager to import external information into the application and cross-reference that information with the interests of one or more clients to determine which clients would find that information helpful and would benefit by receiving a phone call, electronic mail or other form of communication from the relationship manager regarding the information.
Another need exists for a system and method that allows the relationship manager to take action by adding the relevant, retrieved information to an action list or to electronically mail the information to one or more interested clients.
The present invention relates to associating keyphrases of interest to one or more client/customer profiles and conducting queries on one or more news service databases for an entire clientele group. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and system of retrieving objects from one or more databases based on client/customer profiles with associated keyphrases by means of software on a personal computer, wireless device, or web-enabled phone; sorting retrieved objects; and taking action on selected retrieved objects. In addition, the present invention allows the user to import objects of interest and to query the objects of interest based on keyphrases, resulting in a cross-referenced list mapping the retrieved object of interest to clients who are interested such that the relevant objects of interest can be electronically mailed to particular interested clients.
The prior art solutions to enabling communication between a relationship manager, such as a broker or agent, and a client have been limited to performing manual searches by means of the world wide web and by manually obtaining client profile information stored in another application to conduct the search. The present invention provides a novel solution that allows the relationship manager to associate keyphrases to clients and to perform user-based or client/customer-based keyphrase queries on one or more external databases. The present invention performs the query and lists the retrieved results, such as articles, in a user interface with each result associated to a corresponding client who has keyphrases matching the retrieved results. The comprehensive display of retrieved results mapped to specific interested clients allows the user to take action, such as by electronically mailing the retrieved result to the client or by adding the result to an action list.
Although there are no known prior art teachings of a solution to the aforementioned deficiency and shortcoming such as that disclosed herein, the following prior art discusses subject matter that bears some relation. Shoham, U.S. Pat. No. 5,855,015xe2x80x94System and Method for Retrieval of Hyperlinked Information Resources, Dec. 29, 1998, provides a problem-solving query of the global computer network whereby the user continues to refine and narrow the scope of the search based on the retrieved results of the previous search.
The Shoham patent provides an interactive search technique whereby the user conducts a series of searches with each search continuing to refine the previous search. The Shoham patent does not disclose a method of associating keyphrases to client information profiles, retrieving articles from one or more databases, and listing the results in a user interface with each retrieved article mapped to one or more clients who have matching keyphrases.
Weber et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,893,110 Browser Driven User Interface to a Media Asset Database, Apr. 6, 1999, provides a method for searching large movie production databases for the purpose of finding specific multimedia assets.
Weber only discloses a method for querying large movie production databases to find specific multimedia assets and does not contemplate searching news service databases based on one or more keyphrases and presenting the results in an interface which associates the retrieved articles to one or more clients with the corresponding interests.
Tavor et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,070,149, Virtual Sales Personnel, May 30, 2000, provides a guided selling tool. Tavor et al. discloses a method of gathering user product preference information and conducting a search to find products of interest. Tavor et al. further provides techniques to encourage the user to purchase a matching product of interest. Tavor et al. only discloses a guided selling tool and does not contemplate an application querying one or more databases based on one or more keyphrases of interest and listing the retrieved documents or articles mapped to the corresponding clients.
Sato et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,212,517, Keyword Extracting System and Text Retrieval System Using the Same, Apr. 3, 2001, provides a method to facilitate the ranking of retrieved articles based on occurrence of keywords found in each retrieved document. Sato et al. does not contemplate a query based on a user-based or client-based, single or multiple keyphrases and the subsequent mapping of the retrieved results to particular clients who have matching keyphrases stored in a client/customer profile database.
The present invention provides a method and system to query news service databases based on user-based or client-based keyphrases mapped to an imported or user-created client profile database and allows selected objects, such as articles or documents, to be added to an action list, in addition to importing external articles and querying the imported object based on keyphrases and mapping the imported object to interested clients for further action.
As a front-end application software database architecture and information delivery tool with a comprehensive, functional graphical user interface the present invention may import existing client/customer lists, add or create client/customer profiles, generate to-do lists and action items, retrieve text, web sites, articles and documents from one or more databases, add one or more keyphrases to each client/customer profile and, optionally, add user-based keyphrases. In addition, the application performs queries on informational databases for objects such as articles containing one or more keyphrases stored in the client/customer database and displays the retrieved results list with corresponding keyphrase, title, published date and associated client/customers who have profiles with matching keyphrases. The user may add retrieved articles to an action list, edit the retrieved information and edit client/customer profiles stored in the database. The application includes point and click electronic mail functionality for any retrieved news article or imported article and also searches the body of the retrieved or imported article for keyphrases based on client/customer profiles and returns names of clients who may be interested. The application also has the ability to import text from any external source and allow the user complete application functionality as if the imported text was a retrieved article.
The present invention is a method and system to be used by relationship managers, where relationship manager is defined as one who transacts business for another such as a dealer, stock broker, financial analyst, financial advisor, financial planner, direct sales, indirect sales, real estate agent, travel agent, insurance agent, professionals (such as doctors and lawyers) and any person who has any client or customer with whom they must initiate contact to enhance communication between the relationship manager and the client/customer. A client or customer, in the present invention, is defined as any person who obtains goods or services by means of a relationship manager. To avoid confusion with the computer science definition of the term xe2x80x9cclientxe2x80x9d, the term xe2x80x9cindividualxe2x80x9d is used instead and represents the notion of the relationship manager""s client or customer. In a preferred embodiment, the present invention is a software application tool and database that resides on a relationship manager""s personal computer, hand-held device or web-enabled phone. The software application, by means of a graphical user interface, collects individual profile information which includes but is not limited to individual name, priority, company, electronic mail address, birth date, personal notes, phone numbers, keyphrases and an action items/to-do list. The present invention has an import algorithm to automatically load individual profile data from any external, commercially available database such as Microsoft(copyright) Outlook(copyright), ACT(copyright), Goldmine(copyright), and others. Once individual profiles are imported, loaded or added to the application, the relationship manager associates keyphrases of interest to each individual profile. xe2x80x9cKeyphrasexe2x80x9d is defined as a significant or descriptive word or words that are used as reference point for finding relevant objects. xe2x80x9cObjectsxe2x80x9d are defined as any words or text such as news information, articles or documents stored in any electronic format such as html, xml, database, word processing document, or other electronic format. xe2x80x9cObjectxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9carticlexe2x80x9d are used interchangeably throughout this disclosure.
To illustrate with an example, a hypothetical user, David Smith, a stock broker, imports client/customer profiles or creates profiles directly by means of the application""s graphical user interface and successfully adds hypothetical clients John Doe through John Doe999 to the application""s client/customer profile database. David Smith, the broker, already knows the interests or needs of one or more clients or communicates with each client to determine their interests or needs. The broker formulates these interests into significant, short-worded keyphrases. The broker will add keyphrases to each individual profile by means of the keyphrase wizard algorithm or directly by means of the individual profile graphical user interface. Broker, in the present example, will update the profile of John Doe. The broker brainstorms on which topics may interest John Doe in and may call John Doe directly to ask what are his hobbies and interests. Through the conversation, broker realizes that John Doe is interested in xe2x80x9cfinancial toolsxe2x80x9d because of John""s responsibilities as a software developer in the area of financial management; and is also interested in the lawsuit of xe2x80x9ce-Bay vs Colbyxe2x80x9d because of the stock he owns in e-Bay. The broker, who already has John Doe""s profile open in the application adds the keyphrases xe2x80x9cfinancial toolsxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9ce-Bay Colbyxe2x80x9d separated by a delimiter to the individual""s profile. Essentially, these keyphrases are simple word phrases that describe the interests of the individual and are associated to the individual""s profile, are stored in the application client/customer profile database and are used for queries to retrieve articles of interest.
The broker may use the present invention in the preferred embodiment once one or more individual profiles and/or one or more keyphrases have been added to the client/customer profile database. The relationship manager now utilizes the significant advantages of the present invention by navigating to the primary dialogue box that allows the user to enter user-based keyphrases or to select one or more clients and one or more of their associated keyphrases. Whether using one or more user-based or individual-based keyphrases, the present invention queries one or more external information providers, databases or web sites and retrieves articles that have occurrences of the queried keyphrases.
After querying information databases based on one or more keyphrases, the resulting dialogue box presents the relationship manager with the retrieved articles listed by keyphrase, headline, date published and source. The source is the author, news service provider or information provider of the retrieved article. The retrieved articles may then be opened in a viewing dialogue box and a query is performed within the system to find interested individuals based on individual-based keyphrases. The relationship manager may also take action, such as adding the selected article to an action list or to-do list for future action or electronically mailing the highlighted article to one or more selected individuals at that time. The relationship manager may also import any object from any local computing device, network device or any other device to query the object based on keyphrases and to map the individuals who have corresponding keyphrases for the purposes of electronically mailing the article to interested individuals or adding the information to a to-do list.